"Yes, there is more to this then snail killing"

I was introduced to Maple Story by some of my chums here at GameFAQs. They all talked about it with each other about how fun it was. I checked out the site and it looked kiddy, but I decided to put up with that and eventually came to love the design.

Before Playing  4Normally you wouldn't need a subcategory for before you even play the game, but for some this can be a chore. The conventional way of playing MS is going to their site (Maple Global) and downloading the game from them. This download is massive. It's so big, that the alternative to downloading the entire .exe file is downloading TWENTY smaller .rar files. This can be hell for someone who runs on 56k, and even people with broadband. Then, you have to register, which is a bit of a chore as well, and the game's website likes to close and open sign-ups at random times.

Gameplay  8Once you get through the arduous task of downloading and signing up, it's on to the game. When you create your character, you can pick what he/she looks like (my only complaint about this is that there is really only male hairstyle, the other two are crap). After this, there is a tutorial town that tells you how to do all the basics, and this game's control is VERY simple. This game is the typical MMORPG but in 2-D Super Mario form. That means your movements will consist of moving left, moving right, jumping in either direction, and crouching. It's a simple concept, but it's fun and adds a nice 2-D charm to the game. At the beginning of the game you are on Maple Island, which is a training area pretty much. You take on some easy monsters, and visit a couple towns to get the feel of thing. Once you feel that you're leveled up, you can go to a particular city on the island and be taken to the main island. This is where the game develops. You venture to several cities on the island. Each city represents a certain class. There is a modern city for thieves, an elf-like forest town for the mages, a plains village on the plains bowmen, and a giant rock mountain village for the warriors. The quests are pretty fun, though the game can sometimes be very tedious when trying to level up (as in most MMORPGs). The game evolves much father than this. Experienced players will travel much deeper into the island.

Visuals  10I love the visual style of the game. It goes for the cute anime style, and it pulls it off quite well. It makes the game colorful and just the visuals of this game make the game enjoyable. Your characters are very customizable, and you can give them certain equipment (from baseball caps to boots to maces to headbands). Just about every item in this game has an item with the exact same stats, but looks different. Towards the beginning, you will encounter tons of people who look like you due to the limited equipment choices, but as the game goes on and you find and can afford better gear, you will probably be able to look like just about whatever you want, as well as be different from everyone else aesthetically.

Sound  6The sound isn't anything special, but it has interesting noises. The faint/dying noises of the enemies are certainly unique yet appropriate. However, some noises will repeat so much that they will just become white noise to the normal MS gamer. Some of the music is quite catchy and simple, but none of it stands out.

Control  10Control is about as simple as it gets. This is a 2-D game, so the controls shouldn't be hard to figure out at all. If you don't like the default controls, you can change them however you like.

Overall  8This is a great game with very few flaws. If you manage to find yourself in time for sign-ups and are willing to deal with the DL, then by all means try this.